Influence of Near East on Greek MythInfluence of Near East on Greek Myth

Hye-Yoon Hwang CLS 215

08/16/05

-Oral Presentation-

MESOPOTAMIA

Geography

It was located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

These rivers flow into the Persian Gulf.

The word Mesopotamia means "The land between the rivers".

RELIGION  

In Mesopotamia, each town and city was believed to be protected by its own, unique deity or god. The temple, as the center of worship, was also the center of every city.

Around the year 2000 B.C., temple towers began to be built to link heaven and earth.

The towers, called ziggurats, were very large, pyramid-shaped structures on top of which the temple was built. The ziggurats were built of mud bricks with 3 to 7 terraced levels.

ZIGGURAT

GODS AND GODDESSES

The people of Mesopotamia had very many gods, called dingir in Sumerian.

Their gods and goddesses looked and acted just like people. They had feasts, marriages, children, and wars. They could be jealous, angry, joyful, or kind. The gods and goddesses had supernatural powers.

FOUR-FACED GOD AND GODDESS

Iraq Old Babylonian

Period, 18th-17th century B.C.

Bronze 17.3 cm H Purchased in

Baghdad,1930

ACHIEVEMENTS  

Cuneiform The Beginnings of Writing

Tokens Clay tokens came in different

shapes and sizes. These represented different objects.

CUNEIFORM TABLETS AND CLAY TOKENS

SUMERIAN MYTH

Sumerian lived close to the Persian Gulf near the estuary of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers ; irrigation agriculture greatly increased the food supply, but demand social cooperation

The ruling elite’s most powerful tool was cuneiform writing (c.3400 B.C.)

CONTRIBUTION

The earliest myths on earth are recorded in cuneiform writing

We can find similar characters between Sumerian myth and Greek myth Sumerian myths are divine myth, stories of

the doing of superhuman beings

Themes range from the creation of the universe and underworld to the creation of mankind These story patterns influenced to Greek

myth

AKKADIANS / BABYLONIANS MYTH

Semites,(2000 B.C.) seminomadic peoples who in habited the steppe at the fringe of the Arabian desert

Akkadian,(c.2340 B.C) Semitic, named after their capital , Akkad, took over the southern Sumerian cities and adopted Sumerian culture

Semitic Babylonian (1750 B.C) under their leader Hammurabi.

From babylon comes one of our most important pre-Greek myths,the epic poem of creation The poem recounts a divine myth, the making of

the world and its present arrangement

NEAR EASTERN GOD AND GODDESS

COMPARED TO GREEKSumerian

namesAkkadian/Babylonian

names

Greek names Concerns

An Anu Uranus Sky god

Inanna ishtar Aprodite Goddes of sexual love,

war

Enlil Ellil,Marduk Zeus Storm god

Enki Ea Hermes God ,wisdom,magic

Ninhursan,ki __ Demeter Goddess of earth

Ereshkigal __ persephone Goddes of death

Utu shamash Apollo Sun god

HEBREWS

Best known of Semitic peoples, traced their ancestry back to Abraham

Moses monotheistic vision prevailed but many stories the Hebrew told about ancestors were adapted from Mesopotamian myth

The writing system used by the Hebrews is called the Phoenician Alphabet

The Phoenician system of syllabic writing was of great importance in the history of writing Greek invented alphabet on the basis of the

earlier Phoenician writing Modern Arabic script is slightly modified form of

it

THE END